to around 130 million tons or over 1600 k g of nonferrous metal per capita Based on current scrap metal prices the anthropogenic stock in 2050 will represent a total value of around EUR 245 billion which corresponds to a per capita value of EUR 3065 Each year the nonferrous metal stock per capita grows by around 19 k g which in terms of value equals an increase of appro x EUR 36 If the nonferrous metal stock were to be fully e xploited through recycling the theo retical savings potential for greenhouse gas emissions would total around 390 million tons of greenhouse gases for the 2014 stock and around 634 million tons for the 2050 stock The latter fgure is equivalent for instance to 39 times the current CO 2 emis sions of the transport sector in Germany 344 Conclusions The circular Economy will be an important part of the nonferrous metals industry s develop ment towards 2050 not only complementing the industry s eforts to further lower the CO 2 footprint of European primary production but also to lower import dependency and improve security of supply for strategic metals However there are important elements to be tak en into consideration For instance recycling pure metal scrap leads to signifcant energy savings R ecycling metals from more comple x waste and from used products with sometimes low metals content contributes to resource efciency and recovery of many valuable metals but presents technological and economical challenges and in some cases the achievement of high metal yields from comple x products can be energyintensives In the case of alloys if one specifc metals alloy is recycled to another alloy this does not mean recycling the original alloy to the same alloy again is not possible but it might not be economic the mark et may demand diferent alloys instead producing the same alloy could be associated with a higher carbon footprint etc A t times the industry therefore engages in targeted recycling which is optimized for various factors As such recycling will not be the panacea and must be seen in complement to other measures While the shift to more secondary production may not match future demand requirements a meaningful integration of lowcarbon and circular economy policy agendas will help to maximise the benefts from the transition MET ALS IN A CLIMA TE NEUTRAL EUROPE A 2050 BL UEPRINT 35